Big Ten Wins the Challenge; Marcus Ginyard Sees the Silver Lining for Non-Duke ACC Fans

The Big Ten/ACC Challenge came to a pretty strong conclusion last night with the Big Ten finally coming out on top after a decade of being beaten by the ACC. Although Michigan State-North Carolina was the headliner (quick aside: Why not save the headliner for the final night?), Wednesday night had some of the strangest and most unexpected results. Clemson lost a 23-point lead against Illinois. Miami proved their start was no fluke by beating Minnesota. Michigan took a bad loss at home against BC. The only result that really went to form was Ohio State's easy home win against Florida State. (Check out all of the recaps here.)

Of course, the game that is garnering the most attention is Duke's loss at Wisconsin. (Why more people aren't talking about a blown 23-point lead at home by Clemson is beyond me, but let's move on.) That Duke made it as close as they did was sort of remarkable, considered they faced a late 11-point deficit, only to find their way back into the game on the strength of a few Andre Dawkins 3-pointers. But Duke, unlike Illinois, couldn't finish its comeback. Luckily, for ACC fans outside of Duke today, North Carolina's Marcus Ginyard has some comforting words for you.

You know, for a minute there I was actually worried that with Tyler Hansbrough and Gerald Henderson gone, the hate might slip a little bit in this rivalry, but between a comment like this, and the fight over Harrison Barnes, there is plenty of Haterade to go around in North Carolina.

(H/T to Bomani Jones on the Ginyard quote.)

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.